Stephen in the USA

I had the tickets for the flights but I didn't even have a passport for Stephen and only managed to get it just a few days before we were due to fly to the USA

Stephen at Manchester Airport

Stephen had never been on a plane before and was both scared and excited.

Behind Stephen is the plane we were going to fly to America in.

As a surprise I had arranged for Stephen to go see the captain and his crew in the cockpit. Stephen told the captain that he knew how to fly one of these (an Airbus 330) because he had done it in a flight simulation game on the computer. The captain was pleased to hear this, knowing that if anything was to happen to him then Stephen would be able to land the plane safely. The Captain said that he had played the same game and kept crashing, this worried me :)

Stephen was very nervous as the plane taxied onto the runway. The Captain said we are cleared for take off and the engines roared as the plane powered up and started to move. As the plane sped along the runway and started to climb Stephen was saying... S**T S**T S**T S**T... Higher and higher we climbed, he was saying... S**T, S**T, S**T, Oh S**T, S**T, Oh s**t, as we leveled off it began to change from Oh s**t, Oh s**t to oh oh oh oh, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah yes yes yes, this is good, this is gooooood.

He soon settled down to watching movies and the Simpson's and chatting up the air hostesses.

We eventually began to see land far below, Canada and the east coast of America and Stephen was very excited but as we approached Philadelphia and prepared to land there was a similar episode.... This time it was.... Oh God, Oh God, Oh My God..... as the plane went lower and lower. Then he began to get used to seeing things at a much closer level and was kinda disappointed when the plane finally landed.

Once we were in Conneaut Stephen soon settled in and made lots of friends and 'The Family' all liked him.

In this picture he is talking to his mum back in England.

This was our first visit to the lake (Lake Erie) Just after I took this picture, Stephen dropped the ice cream and was left with the empty cone.

One reason for the date we had arrived in Ohio was because we had been invited to a party, Paul's Graduation Open House party. We arrived on the Tuesday, the party was on Saturday giving us a few days to get over the jet lag.

In this pic... left to right.. Stephen, Kayla (Kayla's friend) Leo (a family friend) Lucy (Mary Jo's mum) Mary Jo, Pete (Mary Jo's Dad) and Me (Ken)

If there is one thing that Stephen knows how to do.... It's PARTY :)

It didn't take Stephen long to settle in and whenever he could he would borrow a bike to be out and about.

After a while, Mr. Thomson (the undertaker) gave Stephen a brand new mountain bike.

It's in the garage waiting for you Smeggy :)

Stephen spent a lot of time at the lake.

Here he is with Russell (from next door) and Kayla

Stephen and Russell spent a lot of time together. He often stayed at Russell's house.

Russell's mum and sister took Stephen to Six Flags theme park :)

Kayla IS miss fashion and didn't much like the way that Stephen dressed. One day they had an argument over the way he looked. He said to Kayla.... Look, I'm English and I'll always be English and I'll always dress like an Englishman and I aint ever gonna be no yankee :)

In this picture, Kayla had dressed Stephen and had him pose for this photograph.

Picture by Kayla.

Stephen made lots of friends, here are a few.

This is Cody.

Cody and his dad took Stephen camping and fishing

Darius

Every Friday or Saturday Stephen, Kayla and friends would go bowling or skating all night.

This is Stephen's favorite picture :)

The Motorbike belongs to Bart (next Door)

This is Stephen by the Lake Erie (Conneaut Marina) at Sunset. The Black behind him is a break wall that he would walk along to reach the lighthouse. From there with his friends, he would jump off into the water, a drop of around 30 feet into water about 30 feet deep, brave or stupid???, the debate goes on....